Country archive: Kenya

May 06, 2003

Pictures update

I have updated pictures since April 4 (wow, that's a month ago). I apologize for the delay but did my best before and I have been now for more than 3 hours in the cybercafe in Nairobi to do all this. And there are way more as I need to process all the pictures from Nungwi and Stonetown.

Back to Nairobi

I'm back from Nairobi after the longest bus ride of my life. I left from Dar Es Salaam at 6:45AM and arrived in Nairobi around 8:30PM. Almost 14 hours without no stop but a quick 15 minutes pause for lunch. Needless to say I was happy to remove my butt from the seat, I really started to feel pain. The transport was quite nice though, I took Scandinavian Express buses (35000TSh - $35) which are probably the most luxury buses in East Africa. There is air conditioning, clean seats, superbe organization, top notch staff. I had 3.5 movies during the journey to help waste some time: Signs (starring Mel Gibson), a-movie-I-cannot-remember (was not good anyway), The Master of Disguise (Disney Movie and nothing special about it) and one-movie-I-do-not-know-the-title.

April 11, 2003

On the Way to Tanga

I left this morning from Diani to Mombasa along with two danish girls on their way back to Nairobi. On their advices I went to an hotel they recommended to me to spend the night in Mombasa...and oh boy, what a shithole !

April 10, 2003

Monkey day

Day off today, so I decided to take pictures of the monkey that keep getting around me very close. He is far from being afraid and the bastard even tried one time to steal me my bread when I was eating. He was looking at me from the tree just above my table when he decided to jump on it and get away with my bread. Too bad for him I was faster.

He does not have to complain though as I have been feeding him with bananas (but he managed to steal me an avocado anyway and obviouslly he loved it)

April 09, 2003

Diani Pictures - Underwater IV

Last pictures from diving. It was supposed to be the best spots for diving but Cyril (a French living in Belgium, we have been diving together) and I were quite disappointed. We were expecting much better considering what the staff told us, at one moment we were even swimming across a section and we did not see a fish for more than 10 minutes.

Zanzibar

Since I'm in Kenya, I have heard a lot of people talking about Zanzibar and since I'm quite close to it, I may decide in the next few days to go spend some time in Tanzania. I will probably take the bus from Mombasa to Tanga and then advise. Why Tanga ? Well, Wies and Saskia (from Holland, remember, they have been with me from Nairobi to Mombasa) are staying there for about 3 months to complete their master thesis and it may be a good opportunity to see them again.

April 07, 2003

Diani Pictures - Underwater III

Continuing on the UW pictures: a guitar shark (as you can see it looks like a cross pollination between a shark and a blue spotted ray, especially since it burries itself in the sand like a ray), a difficult to spot leaf fish, a mantis shrimp (first time I ever see something like this) and of course the traditional turtle

April 06, 2003

Diani Pictures - Underwater II

A couple of pictures from today's dive. As you can see a wide variety of critters, including lobsters, rays, turtles and morays. Out of the water you will notice monkeys, they were mostly around my room in the morning (jumping on the roof between 6 and 7AM is pretty common). In one picture you will notice the Colobus monkeys which is a protected in Diani.

April 05, 2003

Diving in Diani

I arrived in Mombasa yesterday at 3:30PM as expected with Wies and Saskia. I dropped them at their hotel and went to Diani, 40km south via taxi. I'm staying in Diani Beachalets for 380KSh, self catering. I expect to eat some crabs, lobsters and prawns in the next few days as price from the fishermen are quite attractive: 400, 750, 600Ksh respectively without bargaining.

April 03, 2003

Mombasa

I should be leaving to Mombasa tomorrow morning. I was ready to leave this morning with Saskia and Wies, 2 girls from Holland that go to Tanzania but the bus was surprisingly full...because it was the beginning of schools holidays from today. We went to the Nairobi museum this afternoon to waste some time and the museum is surprisingly excellent. There are a lot of materials and information. Highly recommended.

March 30, 2003

Mount Kenya - Day 5

We leave from Met Station at 8AM toward Naro Moru gate. We are walking slowly and we manage to see some animals on the road, mainly monkeys and antilopes (or cousin that is...). It is a pleasant 2h walk even though the road is wet and slippery from last night rains.

March 29, 2003

Mount Kenya - Day 4

I wake up at 4AM, no wonder as I went to bed at 8PM. The girls must now be in the middle of their ascent. I continue sleeping until 6AM abd get out with the camera to take pictures of the sunrise. There is again wonderful weather and the girls are sure to enjoy the sunrise.

March 28, 2003

Mount Kenya - Day 3

By 2:30AM I give up sleeping and starts to pack my gear. Gerald and I are having a quick hot drink with cookies and we leave the camp by 3:35AM. It's pitch black outside. Gerald tells me that his torch does not work so we will have only one torch: my head lamp.

March 27, 2003

Mount Kenya - Day 2

I spent a terrible night because of Gerald and the rain, it seems like I have been awake all time and did not get a single minute of sleep. Fact is I'm out of the dorm around before 6AM, I cannot endure anymore being squeezed in the sleeping bag.
We are supposed to leave around 7:30AM. At 7AM I see no sign of human presence and decide to wake up Gerald that is hiding inside his sleeping bag.

March 26, 2003

Mount Kenya - Day 1

I leave with Ken (Nairobi Backpackers owner) and Gerald (Mount Kenya guide) from Nairobi in the morning to Nanyuki, the base town to climb Mount Kenya. We reach it around twelve and stop by the city to hire a porter and a cook. At the same time I'm getting a rain coat that I rent for 550KSh for 5 days after some bargaining. The guy orginally wanted 1000KSh. 550KSh is still expensive and quite close to the price of a new one.

March 25, 2003

Budgeting

A couple of notes about Kenya prices (For the record $1 = 76KSh). This is somewhat expensive here (I would say price are somewhat similar to what you can find on occidental countries) but you can eat VERY well for 250KSh and sleep for about 500KSh.

March 24, 2003

Climbing Mount Kenya

I should leave by wednesday to climb Mount Kenya. Nothing was planned but I'm just taking the opportunity. I spent the afternoon getting some gear around the Nairobi open market to avoid suffering from cold and rain.

March 23, 2003

Karibu Kenya !

Which means 'Welcome to Kenya' in Swahili. I left yesterday evening from the Seychelles and I'm now in Nairobi, staying at the Nairobi Backpacker. I could not do everything I wanted to the last day at Mahe because of... well, it's the islands, it's warm, it's humid, so anything that could be done in 5 minutes takes about 30 minutes.